Liderazgo

LEADERSHIP STYLES USED IN THE BANKING INDUSTRY
A STUDY

Vandana Khare
N.Mohana
Mukesh Kumar
CAB, RBI Pune

Acknowledgements

The study team would like to thank Ms Kamala Rajan, former Principal & Chief General Manager and Ms Meena Hemchandra, Principal & Chief General of the College of Agricultural Banking, Reserve Bank of India for their encouragement, support and guidancein conducting the study.
We wish to thank all the bankers who took the test enthusiastically and enabled us in completing the study. This study would not have been possible without their active cooperation. This study, the which was conducted for the purpose of gaining an insight into the working style of the Indian Banker in his day to day life, is dedicated to them . We hope the findings ofthe Study and its recommendations would be of interest and value to them.

Introduction
A subject that has been of great interest and fascination to mankind is Leadership. One of the most researched subject in the Behavioural Sciences, various researchers and different schools of thought have emerged with the aim of understanding what is leadership or what makes a successful leader.
Butbefore we go into the details , it needs to be stated that for the purpose of this study, the word leadership has been used as defined by Northouse - “a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal” .
Evolution of leadership Theories

We give a brief background of the evolution of leadership theories in the last couple of centuries as this will enableus to understand the major milestones in leadership thought and also place the leadership model we have chosen for study in context.

Great Man Theory (1840s)
The Great Man theory evolved around the mid 19th century. The Great Man theory assumes that the traits of leadership are intrinsic. That simply means that great leaders are born, not made. This theory sees great leaders as those whoare destined by birth to become a leader. The theory was popularized by Thomas Carlyle, who was inspired by the study of influential heroes..
Even though no one was able to identify with any scientific certainty, which human characteristic or combination of characteristics, were responsible for identifying great leader, everyone recognized that just as the name suggests only a man could havethe characteristic (s) of a great leader!
In 1860, Herbert Spencer, an English philosopher disputed the great man theory by affirming that these heroes are simply the product of their times and their actions the results of social conditions.
Trait Theory (1930's - 1940's)
The trait leadership theory believes that people are either born or are made with certain qualities that will make them excelin leadership roles. That is, certain qualities such as intelligence, sense of responsibility, creativity and other values puts anyone in the shoes of a good leader. The trait theory of leadership focused on analyzing mental, physical and social characteristics in order to gain more understanding of which characteristic or combination of characteristics were common among leaders.
There weremany shortfalls with the trait leadership theory. However, from a psychology of personalities approach, this was the first time that the behavioural approach was used for the study of leadership.
Behavioural Theories (1940's - 1950's)
In reaction to the trait leadership theory, the behavioural theories offered a new perspective, one that focused on the behaviours of the leaders as opposed to theirmental, physical or social characteristics. Thus, with the evolutions in psychometrics, notably the factor analysis, researchers were able to measure the cause and effects relationship of specific human behaviours from leaders. From this point forward anyone with the right conditioning could have access to the once before elite club of naturally gifted leaders. In other words, leaders are made...